Parallel

Nekota Shinosuke and Hoshino Sakura have always hated each other dating back to their younger days in school. However, Nekota is tired of their bickering and has hidden his crush from her. One day he gathers his courage to tell her, but she responds not by saying that she does or does not like him, but by saying it wouldn’t be any use to date her. Puzzled by her reaction, he returns to his house only to find out that his father has plans to remarry and visit Europe. The only problem is that the woman has a daughter who they plan to leave with Nekota for a period of time, who turns out to be none other than Hoshino herself. Dating the girl that could possibly become his own sibling brings unwanted trouble for Nekota, but he’s not the type of person to give up so easily.

If you can’t get enough of high school romances in manga, Parallel should easily appeal to you. It’s a fun light hearted manga that easily made me a fan of Kobayashi’s work with just a few chapters.

I easily noticed Parallel’s fast paced and focused story that didn’t waste time getting things done. Because of this I never felt bored, but I also didn’t feel the impact of what great supporting characters could do. For most of the manga, characters are introduced and serve as means to strengthen their obvious feelings between Hoshino and Nekota, usually by making them jealous. You get a great idea of who the main characters are, but no other characters have any profound impact. Supporting characters usually only appeared for their allotted time and then take no major role later on in the series, with the only exception being Hoshino’s sister. It’s not a huge disappointment since the manga isn’t that long, but as a result, the plot becomes solely dependent on whether Nekota and Hoshino’s parents will actually marry. I found myself getting rather impatient towards the end since it was the same formula of introducing a new character to get in the way over and over again, merely stalling until the climax of the story rather than building towards it.

I’m a big fan of the art style. I’ve surely seen better, but the character designs are clean, clear and detailed when they needed to be, and the manga shows its cute side on number of occasions, which easily fits with settings and never feels out of place. I found the art to be one of the more attractive qualities of Parallel.

Looking back, it was a pleasure watching why these two characters felt the way they do for each other. I liked how the manga showed their growing relationship by making the characters realize and recognize habits that they never knew the other had. These little things were enough to bolster the feelings they had, and in that respect I found it to be a little heartwarming. Even though I would have liked to have seen more of these two, just watching them together and seeing how they slowly live their daily lives was enjoyable for me. This is a manga I highly recommend to those who like their high school romances.